


Let the Dust Settle

by dizzydancing



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 11:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3408449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzydancing/pseuds/dizzydancing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo lets the phone ring several times before sighing and dragging himself out of bed.</p><p>It feels like a quiet defeat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let the Dust Settle

Leo lets the phone ring several times before sighing and dragging himself out of bed.

It feels like a quiet defeat.

He picks up the phone and squeezes his eyes.

"Hello?" Leo answers, his greeting coming out as a whisper.

"Leo."

It's only one word, but Leo already feels resigned.  
  
"You saw the game?"  
  
"No, but I heard about what happened." David's voice is quiet but unwavering, and Leo hates how much he revels in the familiarity.

"Fine," Leo replies, rubbing his eyes.

"Is it?" The man on the other end of the voice sounds hesitant, like he's trying to gauge Leo's reaction.

"It's fine," Leo says again.

For a moment, no one speaks, and Leo just listens to the sounds of their ragged breaths.

David lets out a shaky breath.

"I don't want to overstep any boundaries here, but the entire club seemed pretty out of it," David rambles, not letting Leo get a word in. Maybe if he had time to analyze, Leo would find it funny that David was worried that Leo, out of all people, would interrupt him. Instead, Leo just finds himself tired and burnt out.

 _I wish I had more to give,_  Leo thinks.  _To Barca, to Argentina, to you._  
  
He only says the first part out loud.

"You've given everything you have to football," David reassures him, voice suddenly soft. "Okay? You'll get back up on your feet."

Leo pretends to believe him.

"So will all the other Barca players," The Spaniard adds belatedly, as if the other players were just an afterthought.

"I feel like I let everyone down," Leo admits. It's supposed to be a confession, but he feels like David already knows all of this, already knows all of him. "I feel like I let you down."

"Leo." David just sighs, and he hates how David can just say his name and unravel one year of carefully guarded thoughts, regrets, and memories. "You know that I left Barca because I wanted more playing time."

"I tried telling Tito-" Leo begins to protest.

"I know, and I appreciate that." David interrupts him. "I could've stayed, waited it out. But I chose not to."

Leo sits back down on to his bed, letting the wood dig into his shoulders. 

"And no one, not even you, would've been able to stop me."

"New York?"

"It's amazing." David jumps in eagerly.  
  
"But it's not Barcelona." 

"No, no it's not."

Leo watches the sun set, casting a glow across Barcelona, across his city, across his home.

"It's not you either," David adds. His confession only lasts a second, but Leo clutches on to the moment, letting the words sink in. 

"It was - you and me - it was good." Leo prays that the other man understands.

“Leo?”

“Yes?”

“Leo,” David hesitates. “Just, just take care of yourself, yeah? It’s just one loss. You know you’re better than this.”

It sounds like _I love you_.

“I’ll do it, but only for you,” Leo teases him.

He hates how much it sounds like _I love you too_.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if anyone here is interested in beta-ing/editing my work. If you are, just let me know.


End file.
